The Blacks are commonly described as having "great good looks". They are considered to be beautiful people, being tall, thin and having nice-looking faces. The traditional look for most of the Black family is black hair and dark eyes with some exceptions such as: [[Narcissa Malfoy|Narcissa Malfoy née Black]] who has blonde hair and blue eyes, [[Andromeda Tonks|Andromeda Tonks née Black]] having light brown eyes and brown hair and [[Sirius Black|Sirius Black III]], grey eyes. They possess a certain aristocratic elegance resembling upon their personality as they consider themselves as "practically royal".

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The Blacks are commonly described as having "great good looks". They are considered to be beautiful people, being tall, thin and having nice-looking faces. The traditional look for most of the Black family is black hair and dark eyes with some exceptions such as: [[Narcissa Malfoy|Narcissa Malfoy née Black]] who has blonde hair and blue eyes, [[Andromeda Tonks|Andromeda Tonks née Black]] having light brown eyes and brown hair and [[Sirius Black|Sirius Black III]], grey eyes. They possess a certain aristocratic elegance resembling upon their personality as they consider themselves as "practically royal". Even after incarceration in [[Azkaban]] and [[Azkaban escapes|escape]], [[Bellatrix Lestrange|Bellatrix Lestrange née Black]] and Sirius were both described to have retained vestiges of great looks, despite losing much of it in the depression of the great prison.

===Wealth===

===Wealth===

Revision as of 18:41, September 30, 2012

"Point me!"

This article is about the family. You may be looking for the family residence, 12 Grimmauld Place.

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was one of the largest and oldest pure-blood wizarding families in Britain. Many wizarding families in Britain are distantly related to the House of Black. Like the Malfoy and Lestrange families, the House of Black is synonymous with elevated status and wealth. The Black family tree is displayed in the drawing room of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place in London, England on an intricate tapestry, as an ornate mural. It starts in the Middle Ages and shows the dominant line of the family up to the present day.[2]

By the late twentieth century, the House of Black had become extinct in the male line with the deaths of Sirius and Regulus Black, neither of whom had children. The female line remained extant through the Malfoy family and Teddy Lupin, though the latter descends from a Black who was disowned. The Potter family is also distantly related to the Black family through Dorea Black.

The Black family traces its origin back to the Middle Ages. They claim to have entirely magical ancestry, but as Sirius Black informed his godson Harry Potter, no true pure-blood families existed by the twentieth century. The pure-blood families like the Blacks simply removed Muggles and Squibs from their family trees. The Blacks place a great importance on blood purity, considering themselves akin to royalty in the wizarding world and disdaining Muggles, Squibs, Blood traitors and Muggle-borns. The family motto, which can be found on the family crest, is Toujours Pur, which means "Always Pure" in French. Many members took this phrase very seriously.[3]

The original tree described from Grimmauld Place was subject to some magical interference. According to Sirius Black, his mother Walburga blasted names of "blood traitors" off the tapestry without hesitation.[3] The Black family motto of Toujours Pur ("always pure") was followed assiduously by family members; any who disagreed with the notion of blood purity or married Muggles or people of different blood statuses were disowned and blasted off the family tree, as were any Squibs. Thus, family members that remain on the tapestry can be assumed to have married fellow pure-bloods. Some even married their own cousins; Walburga and Orion Black, for instance, were second cousins. Generations of this practice resulted in inbreeding, which in turn has caused problems such as low fertility and mental instability.

Etymology of Given Names

Most Black family members are named after stars or constellations. For example, the star Sirius is in the constellation Canis Major (the Dog). What's more, Sirius Black, an Animagus, could morph at will into a black dog named Padfoot. Another example is Bellatrix, the third brightest star in the constellation Orion, which is also the name of Sirius's father and Bellatrix's uncle. Cygnus, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia are also constellations, and Regulus, Alphard and Arcturus are stars as well.

Some members of the extended family have also chosen to follow this naming pattern. For example, Narcissa Malfoy née Black named her son Draco, which is the name of a constellation. In turn, he named his son Scorpius, which is one of the constellations of the zodiac, known as Scorpio in Western astrology. Narcissa herself, however, was not named in keeping with this convention. She was instead named for a plant, the flower Narcissus. Lycoris Black is also named for a plant.

However if a member of the family is disowned and blasted off the Black family tree then the name is never used again in the following generations.

Family Name

Astronomical Origin

Alphard Black

Alphard is the brightest star in the constellation Hydra.

Andromeda Tonks née Black

Andromeda is a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere and the name of a galaxy.

Arcturus Black I, II, III

Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman.

Bellatrix Lestrange née Black

Bellatrix is a star in the constellation Orion.

Cassiopeia Black

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.

Cygnus Black I, II, III

Cygnus is a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, also known as the Northern Cross.

Draco Malfoy

Draco is a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.

Orion Black

Orion is a well-known constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.

Phoebe Black

Phoebe is perhaps associated with another name of the sun god Apollo, Phoebus.

Physical Appearances

The Blacks are commonly described as having "great good looks". They are considered to be beautiful people, being tall, thin and having nice-looking faces. The traditional look for most of the Black family is black hair and dark eyes with some exceptions such as: Narcissa Malfoy née Black who has blonde hair and blue eyes, Andromeda Tonks née Black having light brown eyes and brown hair and Sirius Black III, grey eyes. They possess a certain aristocratic elegance resembling upon their personality as they consider themselves as "practically royal". Even after incarceration in Azkaban and escape, Bellatrix Lestrange née Black and Sirius were both described to have retained vestiges of great looks, despite losing much of it in the depression of the great prison.

Wealth

The Black family, as many other pure-blood wizarding families like the Malfoys and at some point like the Potter family is considered to be a very wealthy family. This may be one of the reasons why the members of this family acted somehow arrogantly.

After Sirius died on 1996, his godson Harry Potter inherited all of Sirius Black's properties including his house, his house-elf and his vault, which still contained "a reasonable amount of gold". Given its depth, it is likely a high-security vault.

Etymology

Black can be considered a colour, though it is more accurately the absence of colour. In Western culture, the colour black has typically been associated with evil, darkness, and witchcraft, but also with prestige and sophistication — appropriate for the House of Black. Black has also been associated with life and prosperity by other cultures. In ancient China, black was the symbol of the element of water, which also corresponds to Slytherin, the Hogwarts house of almost all members of the Black family. In English heraldry, black represents darkness and ignorance; a possible allusion to the prejudice common to members of the House of Black.

However, the English word black is derived from either the Old English blœc, meaning "black", or blac, meaning "pale".[7]Pallor is associated with sickness and the colour white, which is usually held to symbolize purity in Western and Indian culture, and death in East Asian cultures. This mirrors the typical colouring of members of the House of Black — dark hair and pale skin[8].

Tapestry of the Black family tree. At the trunk is Phineas Nigellus Black, and at the left side are decipted even more ancient ancestors of the family.

Orion and Walburga Black on the family tree

Behind the scenes

A hand drawn copy of the most recent section of the family tree was donated to a charity auction for Book Aid by J. K. Rowling, in February 2006. The drawing was purchased on behalf of Daniel Radcliffe for £30,000.

Another version of the family tree tapestry appeared in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film). When film makers told Rowling that they needed to "visualise Sirius Black's family tree," she faxed them the complete Black family tree, going back eight generations. On that tree the name Phineas is misspelt Phineus.[9]

Many members of the House of Black have died at considerably younger ages than is the norm for wizards and witches. Of those whose dates of birth and death are shown on the family tree, none lived to be older than one hundred, and most died between the ages of fifty and eighty, though this is possibly the result of major inbreeding (see above) as well as mental instability (As seen [2]).

Many members of the family are said to have great good looks, with a touch of aristocratic arrogance to it.

All of the males that have been blasted off the family tree were not disowned due to marriage (except for possibly Eduardus Limette Black, who was blasted off for an unknown reason). Phineas was disowned for supporting Muggle rights, Marius was disowned for being a Squib, Alphard for leaving gold to his disowned nephew, and Sirius for running away from his home and not believing in the importance of blood-purity. The three females to have been disowned after marriage are Andromeda, Cedrella and Isla Black (all for marriage to a Muggle/Muggle-born, a disrespected family, and a Muggle, respectively) .

It is possible James Potter was not the son of Dorea Black, as he married Muggle-bornLily Evans and would possibly have been disowned for that. At the same time, Walburga Black was growing old at the time, and it is possible she overlooked the marriage (as it was around the same time her son, Regulus Black, both disappeared and died).

It is possible that some of the disowned male members of the family have male-line descendants that are recognised by the greater Black family due to their ancestors' actions. Hence, the Black family may still be extant through the existence of unrecognised branches.

Notes and references

↑Squibs and members who married non-purebloods were disowned, and they and their descendants were not considered part of the family

↑Although it has never been confirmed that Septimus and Cedrella are Arthur's parents, this can be inferred based on Sirius Black's statement in Ch. 6 of Order of the Phoenix that Arthur was "something like [his] second cousin once removed." The Black family tree establishes Cedrella as a first cousin once removed of both Orion and Walburga Black, Sirius's parents. Thus, any children she had would be their second cousins, and second cousins once removed of their sons Sirius and Regulus. Also, almost all of Sirius's relatives can be seen on the Black family tree because both his parents were born into the House of Black, making it unlikely that he could be related to Arthur in a way not shown. See also this talk page and an HPL essay for more information.

↑ 6.06.16.2Sirius Black stated in Ch. 6 of Order of the Phoenix that Molly Weasley was his "cousin by marriage". This means that Ignatius Prewett, Lucretia's husband, could not have been Molly, Fabian, and Gideon's father, as this would have made them first cousins by blood of Sirius. Ignatius was Sirius's uncle by marriage, and if Molly was his niece, this could explain Sirius's comment. See this talk page for more information.